St. Anthony Shrine, "The Church on Arch Street," is a centre for Roman Catholic Ministry in Boston, Massachusetts, directed by the Franciscan Friars of Holy Name Province.

Commenting on his meeting with the Archbishop O'Malley said, "Though I knew of him, I had never met the Archbishop before. He is a member of the same Bishops Conference as Papua New Guinea, so he knows the Capuchin bishops who are there." O'Malley is a member of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, commonly known as the Capuchins.

Smith was in Boston as part of the Office of the Pontifical Mission Societies sponsors' programme which brings missionaries who come in from around the world to preach at Masses in parishes throughout the Archdiocese of Boston.

Cardinal O'Malley explained that the Programme has two purposes:

• The economic support for the works of evangelisation and mercy that are carried out in the name of the Catholic community in these countries of the Third World.
• An opportunity for mission animation, to help Catholics in Boston to grow in their awareness of the universality of the Church and their responsibility to be part of this mission of announcing the Gospel and caring for one another.

"I am always very edified by the generosity and the love that our people demonstrate towards the missions. Indeed, Archbishop Smith attested to the warm welcome that he received in the parishes and for the generous support that the people have given him," said O'Malley.

Source

• Facebook
• Cardinal Sean's Blog
• Image: Cardinal Sean's Blog

The main office of the Pontifical Mission Society of the Propagation of the Faith in Rome decides where the Mission Collection should go says Fr Bernard Espiritu, National Director of Missionz.

This year, says Fr Espiritu, New Zealand has been requested for "support to go to the missionary work of Fr Alpha Mazenga SVD, a Divine Word Missionary, who works with street kids in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo and the work of Fr Eugene Docoy and other Divine Word Missionaries who work with him in the rubbish tip and with the street kids of Cebu City in the Philippines."

"We also would like to help a community in Kiribati. The community would like to renovate their maneaba. It is a traditional meeting place of people especially the youth and children. It is used for various activities including their catechism and other faith formation activities," says Fr Espiritu.

Missionz is the New Zealand national office of the worldwide Pontifical Mission Societies. The three societies are:

• Propagation of the Faith - supporting Bishops in Missionary Dioceses
• St Peter the Apostle - to fund seminarians and religious in mission territories
• Holy Childhood - to support health and religious formation needs of mission children

The objective of Missionz is to promote awareness of the mission of the Catholic Church - to present the good news of Jesus Christ to all peoples, and to generate spiritual, material and financial support for those working in mission and third world territories.

The Pontifical Mission Societies have the common aim of assisting the Holy Father in spreading missionary awareness among priests, religious, adults and children; encouraging aid to the poor, and gathering financial support for different projects in third world countries. The funds collected during the year by the Pontifical Mission Societies are sent directly to mission dioceses in need, as decided at Council in Rome each May.

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Image: The Guardian

"At last, a very experienced and qualified priest with missionary experience has been appointed," he says.

He is Father Bernard Espiritu.

Espiritu is a Filipino missionary who belongs to the Australian province of the Societas Verbi Divini (SVD).

He was ordained in 1981 and first served as a missionary in Brazil from 1983 to 1990. His second mission was in Melbourne from 1991 to 2006. Espiritu's most recent appointment was in New Jersey, USA for five years.

He has also served in the United Nations as a member of Vivat International, an organized network of religious orders whose work, expertise and experience have direct bearing on issues related to social justice, development, peace and ecology.

Shannahan has completed five and a half years in what he says has been a fulfilling mission. He says that after "48 years of full time involvement in pastoral leadership across New Zealand I have reached the age when I need to ease into semi-retirement."

Espiritu took up his job on 31 May. On Thursday afternoon there was a gathering in Wellington to farewell Fr Paul and welcome Fr Bernard

It is connected with the New Zealand Bishop's Conference and Bishop Owen Dolan is the accredited Episcopal Vicar.

Source:

• CBCP News
• MissioNZ

More than 1,000 people have made their way to the town of Qaa in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon March 5. They are struggling in the region's near-freezing temperatures.

Father Simon Faddoul, president of Caritas Lebanon, told Catholic News Service March 6 that "women and children and the elderly are coming out in the cold, with nothing but the clothes on their backs, to seek safety."

"It's very cold, and they have nothing," he said.

Supporting this view is national director of the Pontifical Mission Societies in Lebanon, Father Paul Karam.

"We have direct experience of Christian families who have fled to Syria [from] the violence or the oppression of the regime," Karam said.

"There are families who have relatives in Lebanon who have fled here and want to change their lives, looking for work. The Church's response in Lebanon was the hospitality and care of these people: we host them in parishes, provide food and clothing, we assist them at an economic level and insert them into the social fabric."

"We want to promote peace and encourage dialogue. As for the Christians, the danger that looms is a scenario like Iraq, where Christians are forced to flee the country. The risk is that a dictatorial regime is replaced with an Islamist type which imposes the Sharia."

The U.N. refugee agency said that as many as 2,000 Syrians crossed into Lebanon March 5-6 to escape the violence that has claimed hundreds of lives.

Father Faddoul said most of the refugees arrived on foot from areas near the besieged city of Homs.

"Things are getting out of hand," Faddoul added.

Sources

• The Guardian
• Vatican News
• Independent Catholic News
• CNS
• Image: Catholic Register